Iorg, Serex highlight huge first day for Griz T&F

University of Montana hosts the Montana open on April 25, 2025, in Missoula, Montana.

Photo by: Ella Palulis/University of Montana

5/2/2025 7:39:00 PM | Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

By: Montana Sports Information

It was a good day to be a Grizzly on Friday. Doug Fraley's track and field program saw big marks across the board at day one of the Bengal Invitational.

Samantha Serex broke her own school record in the pole vault and Kyle Iorg shattered his PR to move into the top 20 in the NCAA West Region in the men's javelin to highlight an impressive all-around day for the team.

"I'm really pleased with the progress that we made today as a team. I thought we were firing well in a lot of different areas and that was reflected in the results," Fraley said. "Not just in a couple of areas, but across the board. I feel like we made good progress today and set ourselves up well to move forward tomorrow."

Serex came out on top in a loaded women's pole vault field that featured the top three in the Big Sky and eight of the top nine from the conference performance list. She entered at 12-3.5 and cleared it on her first attempt, and passed in one try again at 12-9.5.

Serex had her first miss at 13-3.5, but went over the bar on her second attempt to set up a shot at the school record. She snuck over the bar on her second attempt, breaking her own record, winning the competition, and, perhaps most importantly, moving into a regional qualification spot.

The mark moves Serex into a tie for 36^th in the West and should be enough to get her to the NCAA First Round meet in College Station, Texas at the end of May.

"What a great outing for Sam today," Fraley said. "Actually for the pole vault the conditions were not that good because the wind was a little bit in their faces, but what a job she did to really focus in on a new school record and a potential regional bid. It was just a fantastic performance, she just keeps getting better and better."

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A pair of Grizzly javelin throwers also had record days. Ashley Carroll took second in the women's javelin with a throw of 152-6. It's a personal best mark for the sophomore from Shepherd, Mont. and also moves her into a regional spot at the moment. She is now ranked 42^nd in the West with the top 48 making it to the First Round meet.

The biggest throw of the entire day came from Kyle Iorg. The true freshman had a big PR last week in Missoula, and he one-upped himself on Friday in Pocatello. Iorg's first throw of the day was the best of the competition as he uncorked one 226-10.

Iorg's mark is the 17^th best in the West Region this season, and it also moves him past his teammate Matthew Hockett for the Big Sky Conference lead.

"Kyle, unbelievable. He had a huge PR at our home meet last week and then to go hit that throw that he did to PR by as much as he did was just phenomenal," Fraley said. "It was just a tremendous effort by that true freshman and puts him in great position not only leading the Big Sky but ranked really high in the western region."

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The field also saw freshman Caiden Sekuterski claim a victory in the men's long jump with a mark of 23-2. Donaven Humphries had a new PR in the hammer throw with a mark of 188-5 that moves him into 4^th in the Big Sky.

The track saw mostly preliminary races for Saturday's finals, but the Grizzlies were firing on all cylinders in the running events. There were 17 Grizzlies that reached the finals of their respective events by placing in the top eight in the prelims.

Freshman Malaki Simpson had the top 100m time for the men at 10.53 seconds, leading a trio of Griz into tomorrow's final. Karsen Beitz reached the 100m and 200m final with a PR time in each event.

Jay Beagle, who has been hurt this season and is competing in just his second meet, broke 48 seconds for the first time this season in the men's 400m to take the top time into tomorrow's finals.

Tara Ohlwiler once again led the women's sprint group with the second-best time in both the 100m and 200m. She narrowly missed her own school record in the 100m, running a time of 11.66 to reach the final. She also PR'd in the 200m at 23.74 seconds.

Rileigh McGree and Brooke Zetooney will join Ohlwiler in Saturday's 100m final, while Lily Meskers and Sophia Clark each advanced in the 200m. Montana saw all 10 women that ran the 200m set PRs on Friday.

Cutter Thatcher and Adam Maxwell reached the 400-meter hurdle final for the men, and Jayel Dovichak, Ainsley Shipman, and Whitney Morrison all reached the women's 100-meter hurdle final.

"The sprints and hurdles groups were really good today. We really got a lot of kids into the finals, a lot of personal bests in those areas, so it was a really good day on the track for us," Fraley said. "It's a fast track here and you get good competition like we had and warm weather and that usually adds up to some pretty fast times."

The meet will continue on Saturday beginning with field events at 11:00 a.m. and running events starting at 11:30 a.m. The meet can be streamed on ESPN+ and live results are available online.

MEN'S RESULTS
100m Prelim- Malaki Simpson (10.53*, 3^rd), Cooper Hewett (10.55, 4^th), Karsen Beitz (10.57*, 6^th), Brody Thornsberry (10.67*, 11^th)
200m Prelim- Karsen Beitz (21.18*, 6^th), Braden Ankeny (21.20, 7^th), Malaki Simpson (21.46, 11^th), Brody Thornsberry (21.73*, 15^th), Cody Lease (22.66, 20^th)
400m Prelim- Jay Beagle (47.88, 1^st), Taylor Johnson (48.02, 2^nd), Ty Ferguson (48.07*, 3^rd), Garrett Dahlke (48.80*, 10^th), Landon Shilhanek (49.65*, 11^th)
1,500m- Lane Cole (3:51.80, 2^nd), Keagen Crosby (3:57.51, 5^th), Truman Thompson (4:01.87, 9^th), Kanoa Blake (4:02.60, 10^th), Colin Shaules (4:18.06, 17^th), Morgan Amano (4:23.44, 18^th)
110mH- Oliver Simianer (14.99, 2^nd)
400mH- Cutter Thatcher (53.90, 3^rd), Adam Maxwell (56.71, 4^th)
Long Jump- Caiden Sekuterski (23-2, 1^st), Gordon McMillion (22-3.5, 4^th), Oliver Simianer (20-6.5, 6^th)
Hammer- Donaven Humphries (188-5*, 3^rd), Tyler Bates (166-1, 7^th), Wade Rykal (160-8, 9^th)
Javelin- Kyle Iorg (226-10*, 1^st), Matthew Hockett (209-7, 2^nd), Ethan Grimm (186-10, 3^rd)

WOMEN'S RESULTS
100m Prelim- Tara Ohlwiler (11.66, 2^nd), Rileigh McGree (11.94, 5^th), Brooke Zetooney (12.10, 6^th), Isabelle Berry (12.41*, 9^th), Destiny Santiago (12.69, 13^th)
200m Prelim- Tara Ohlwiler (23.74*, 2^nd), Lily Meskers (23.86*, 3^rd), Sophia Clark (24.60*, 8^th), Rileigh McGree (24.64*, 9^th), Brooke Zetooney (24.73*, 10^th), Jayel Dovichak (24.90*, 11^th), Claire Hutchison (25.01*, 12^th), Cosley Bruno (25.28*, 13^th), Isabelle Berry (25.71*, 17^th), Destiny Santiago (26.13*, 19^th)
1,500m- Heidi Olson (4:51.49, 2^nd), Abigail Kotran (4:56.22, 3^rd), Shay Pederson (4:57.95, 4^th), Sofia Hinderman (5:10.64, 10^th), Libby Hartz (5:18.56, 12^th)
100mH Prelim- Jayel Dovichak (13.96, 3^rd), Ainsley Shipman (14.12, 4^th), Whitney Morrison (14.29, 5^th), Isabelle Berry (15.19, 10^th)
Pole Vault- Samantha Serex (13-7.25^, 1^st), Shealyne McGee (12-9.5, 5^th), Molly Chambers (12-9.5*, 5^th), Hannah Moses (12-3.5*, 10^th), Emma Zimmerman-Weeden (12-3.5, 10^th)
Long Jump- Ainsley Shipman (18-1.5, 4^th), Emily Maughan (17-1.25, 7^th), Kensey Gault (16-7.75, 9^th)
Hammer- Savana Ramirez (165-9, 4^th), Morgan Thomas (163-3*, 7^th)
Javelin- Ashley Carroll (152-6*, 2^nd), Ella Moodry (111-9, 12^th)

^School Record
*PR